Winter's Excuse
by logarhythm
Summary: Amu comes down with a cold one day - and finds a rather snuggly though infinitely more annoying present waiting for her back home.


**My first Shugo Chara! fan fic :3 I hope they weren't too OOC... X3**

**A gift for Momo, because of her dreadful cold. ;3 (Actually, a gift to everyone who eventually got that cold. Including myself. XD)**

**Disclaimer~**

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><p>"A<em>choo!<em>"

"You okay there, Amu-chan?" Nagihiko shot her a sympathetic look - he'd been plagued by same cold all of last week.

"Yeah, ah'm fine. Just this stoopid cold is gettin' on ma nerves." Amu sniffed, irritated at her messed up speech. _This_ was why she _despised_ colds.

"You don't sound fine to me," Rima piped in, her rare concern shining through.

"Don't worry - cough cough - Rima." Amu sent a grin her way, and cleared her throat - partially to cover a cough, and partially to change the subject.

"Anyway, we need to organize these files! Stoopid, stoopid files. Why'd they have to appear on my desk in the first place?" Amu waved her arms around, almost as if to hit the fairies of fate buzzing around her head.

"Because Tadase's off ill," Yaya chimed in.

"Honestly," Rima muttered, "Amu's here doing all the work while the so-called 'king' is off slacking."

Amu popped a vein. "_You_ aren't doing much either, Rima!"

Rima looked up from her steaming china teacup at Amu with innocent eyes, as if saying, 'Why on earth would you think that?'

She brushed Amu off, motioning to Yaya. "Refill."

"Yes~!" Yaya sung.

_Seriously_, Amu thought, _this __whole __situation __is __driving __up __the __wall. __Maybe __I __should__'__ve __stayed __home. _Amu glanced around the room at Yaya serving Rima a new cup of tea, going on and on about mint cookies and Nagihiko who seemed to have snagged his hair on the back of his chair. Amu scrunched up her face in annoyance. _I __can__'__t __concentrate __with __this __chaos, __anyway._

"RIGHT!" Everyone jumped at Amu's deafening shout, and Yaya yelped in her place. Amu glared at them. "I'm taking a sick leave."

"But, Amu-chan, you _can__'__t_ leave me alone with those two!" Nagihiko whispered, a look of vague panic striking his feminine features.

"Sorry," Amu laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head as she stood up to gather her things. Nagihiko paled. She was serious.

"Bye, everyone - _achoo!_ - and don't forget to sort through the box of second-year student reports under the table, okay?" Amu hacked out a few coughs for effect before hurrying out of the garden. She wanted to be home, in her bedroom snuggled up with something warm as soon as possible.

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><p>"Amu? Oh, you're home early! That's nice!" Midori popped out of the kitchen, still covered in flour and smelling of sugar, and skipped into a rather unwanted embrace on Amu's part.<p>

"Mum! You're gonna get flour on my unifo- _achoo_! And it's not helping my nose much, either..." Amu sniveled, resigning herself to her mother's hug.

"Oh! Sorry, Amu. I forgot about that cold of yours. Is that why you're home so early?"

"Yeah. I was hoping I could just spend the day here, where it's nice and warm... Being surrounded by glass walls is really pretty an' all, but it can get awful cold in the winter."

"I see. Well, the heating's on, and your bedroom window's closed - why don't you head upstairs while I make you some hot chocolate, hmm?"

"Thanks." Amu smiled before shrugging off her bag and dumping it on the living room sofa. She charged up the stairs taking three at a time, and barged into her bedroom - only to be met with a pair of midnight blue eyes and a not-so-innocent sounding 'meow'.

"Oh, and Amu-chan? You have a visitor."

_Thanks __for __the __warning_. Amu shut the door behind her, scowling at the familiar unwelcome alley cat currently sprawled out on her bed.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she all but growled, stalking over to the pink swivel chair in the middle of the room and slumping onto it.

"We were bored~!" Yoru yowled, before bursting out in fits of cat-like laughter.

"Yoru!" Ran scolded, her hands on her hips.

"You were bored? You came over and invaded my house because you were _bored_?" Amu deadpanned.

"More or less." Ikuto murmured, turning a page of Amu's magazine.

Amu could have bashed her head against a wall. "Well at least move up. _I__'__m _the one with the cold here. And don't blame me if you catch it."

Ikuto sighed before reluctantly wriggling out of his lying position, settling cross-legged on the left half of the bed, never drawing his attention from the magazine the entire time.

Amu shuffled over and leaped onto the bed, almost bouncing Ikuto off with her weight and eliciting an instinctive cat-like yelp from him.

"Serves you right," she sniffed, cuddling her knees to her chest in an attempt to get warm.

Ikuto glanced at the magazine now sprawled on the floor a few metres away, and came to the conclusion that he couldn't be bothered to get it. Amu was much more fun, after all.

Ikuto leant sideways, burying his face in Amu's shoulder. He frowned slightly upon realizing just how cold she was. He sniffed, and noticing the white dust-like specks on her uniform, licked her arm.

"I-Ikuto!" Amu immediately blushed furiously, trying in vain to swat him away with her hands. "W-what are you doing?"

"There's sugar on your uniform."

"Stop it, Ikuto! It's just _weird_!"

"Mmm... Maybe if you get me something better to eat."

"No! Mum will go mental if she finds out you raided the kitchen _again_."

"In which case I might be forced to eat _you_ instead."

"Ikuto!"

"Just kidding... Maybe."

"_Achoo!_" Amu sniffed, holding a tissue to her nose. "It's fweezing," she mumbled from behind the tissue.

Ikuto stared for a second, a thoughtful glaze coming over his eyes, before grabbing Amu around the waist and launching them both across the bed, squirming under the covers.

"I-Ikuto! Just because I'm cold doesn't mean you can treat me like some cuddly toy!" Amu wriggled in Ikuto's hold, kicking him in the leg.

"... Ow."

"That's your fault."

They stayed there in silence for a while, and Amu was aghast to admit she was close to falling asleep. _But __he__'__s __just __so _warm_... __And __big __and __cuddly... _Amu frowned at the memory of her wish to 'snuggle up with something warm'. She'd meant with a hot water bottle or something of the like.

_But __in __a __way,_ she thought idly_, __when __Ikuto __isn__'__t __saying __anything to annoy me, __this __is __just __so __much __better._

Amu grimaced at the thought of her mother coming in to deliver the hot chocolate, but for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to care.

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><p><strong>Teehee! :3 A classic case of <em>Amuto<em>, right there. XD ****I loved writing that last scene X3**


End file.
